Latest Articles about Influence Operations

Moscow Losing Church War in Ukraine and More Broadly
In what may be as important as any other battlefield in Ukraine, Moscow is losing the Church war in that country. The autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) has notably come out strongly in defense of Ukrainian sovereignty, whereas the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the... MORE

Iranian Influence in Post-Conflict Syria: Prospects and Rivalries with Arab Gulf States
Iran’s intervention in the Syrian civil war allowed it to strengthen its foothold in the country. Iran sent numerous foreign militants to Syria, recruited Syrians into Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-aligned militias, and carved out pockets of de facto territorial control for those allied militias.... MORE

Russian Aggression Against Ukraine Activates Pro-Russian Groups in Georgia
On February 21, a few days before Russia launched its large-scale re-invasion of Ukraine, 53 political and non-governmental organizations registered in Georgia published an “open letter” to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he help them achieve a “neutral status” for their country (Radiotavisupleba.ge, February... MORE

Russian Propagandists Justify Aggressive Policies as a Battle Against the ‘Western Yoke’
The Kremlin’s official recognition of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (DPR, LPR) on Monday, February 22, further aggravated the confrontation between Russia and the West. As if preparing for such a scenario, Russian ideologists and propagandists had recently come up with a new... MORE

Crucial Week in Putin’s Pseudo-War Starts With a Bang, a Feint and a Flop
The protracted escalation of the crisis encompassing Europe, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Arctic but centered on Ukraine and driven entirely by Russia’s threats, has reached its inescapable culmination. President Vladimir Putin sought to sustain the military pressure on Kyiv and the West for... MORE

Dirty Bombs and Fake UAVs: Russian Disinformation Exercise or Deliberate Casus Belli?
On February 3, reports appeared in the international media alleging that Russia was planning to fabricate a pretext for a renewed invasion of Ukraine. According to United States officials cited by various news outlets, Russia might try to use a fake video showing an attack... MORE

New Belarus-Russia Military Doctrine 2021 and Allied Resolve 2022 (Part One)
Russia’s conventional Armed Forces have deployed approximately 30,000 personnel to Belarus for the joint strategic-operational military exercise Allied Resolve (Soyuznaya Reshimost) 2022, scheduled for February 10–20, by far eclipsing any previous deployment to the country since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 (see... MORE

Moscow Patriarchate Moves Into Africa, Helping Kremlin but Roiling Orthodox World
Last November, the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) announced it was creating its own exarchate for Africa and would seek to wrest control of the continent’s bishoprics and parishes away from the Orthodox Church of Alexandria and All Africa (a.k.a. the Greek... MORE

Dikoe Pole Cossacks in Occupied Luhansk: Russian Aides de Guerre?
Amidst the Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine and speculation about whether the Kremlin will, indeed, again invade (see EDM, January 18, 20, 27), the analytical discussion has focused less on what pretext(s) for war Moscow might put forward to “legitimate” any such... MORE

Putin’s Blackmail-War in Ukraine Continues Under Diplomatic Cover
The guns have so far remained silent on the snow-covered Russian-Ukrainian border, but there is certainly no peace there; a rather unusual war is in progress. It is unlike any other wars waged by Russia under the lengthy rule of President Vladimir Putin, who began... MORE